Client customized card for use with selected merchants

Abstract

A client selects several merchants with whom the card may be redeemed, the amount redeemable, and a design for printing on the card which is personalized for the card recipient.

1 . A system for customizing a card, said system comprising:
 a plurality of cards, each card of the plurality of cards representing an account between a cardholder and selected merchants;   a merchant database for storing information regarding a plurality of merchants who will accept the cards in a transaction;   a client interface connected to the merchant database, said client interface interacting with a client and responding to said interacting to select one or more merchants; and   a card creator connected to the client interface, said card creator assigning to one of the cards an account number which will be accepted by the selected merchants and rejected by other merchants other than the selected merchants.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein one or more cards of the plurality of cards represents an account having a pre-defined amount for redeeming with a merchant. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein one or more cards of the plurality of cards represents an account between a cardholder and a plurality of merchants wherein the plurality of merchants are individually selected by the client, wherein the plurality of merchants are one or more preset merchant groups selected by the client or wherein the plurality of merchants is a combination of merchants individually selected by the client and a preset merchant group selected by the client. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the client interface interacts with the client to select a card from the plurality of cards. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the material printed on the card includes additional material selected by the client via the client interface, said selected material includes one or more of the following: identifying information associated with the cardholder, a personalized message, identifying information associated with the client, contact information associated with the client, identifying information associated with the selected merchants, contact information associated with the selected merchants, credit redeemable by the cardholder, an expiration date for redeeming the credit. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of cards is associated with a unique identifier and said unique identifier is included on the card. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a kiosk housing the merchant database or a link to the merchant database, housing the client interface, and housing the card creator or housing a link to a card fulfillment resource. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the client interface interacts with the client to receive design data for further customizing the appearance of material printed on the card, said customizing data including one or more of the following: font of characters, style of characters, size of the material on the card, position of the material on the front of the card, position of material on the back of the card, color of the information, a border for the card, a theme for the card, and an orientation of the material on the card. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the selected logo is provided by the client via the client interface and stored in the logo database. 
     
     
         10 . A system for creating a card, said card representing an account between a cardholder and a plurality of merchants, said system comprising:
 an account parameters database storing information identifying a plurality of merchants;   a background database storing a plurality of card backgrounds;   a logo database storing a plurality of logos;   a client interface connected to the account parameters database, the background database, and the logo database, said client interface interacting with a client to select merchants from the plurality of merchants identified by the information stored in the account parameters database, to select a card background from the plurality of card backgrounds stored in the background database, and to select a logo from the plurality of logos stored in the logo database;   an administrator processor in communication with the client interface for administering the account, said administrator processor receiving account parameters associated with the account, said account parameters including an amount redeemable by the cardholder and the selected merchants; and   a card creator in communication with the client interface, said card creator printing material on the card based on the client interaction via the client interface, said material including the selected card background and the selected logo and assigning to the card an account number which will be accepted by the selected merchants.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the client interface interacts with the client to select the amount redeemable by the cardholder, wherein the amount is redeemable by the cardholder at the plurality of client selected merchants and wherein the material printed on the card includes a plurality of logos representing the plurality of client selected merchants. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10  further comprising a device for communicating to the administrator processor to selectively activate an account. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10  for use with a issuer processor wherein the administrator processor provides account parameters for an account to the issuer processor for authorizing a merchant request to redeem an amount from a particular account as a function of the transmitted account data associated with the particular account. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10  further comprising a kiosk unit housing the client interface and the card creator. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the account parameters database stores a category associated with each of the plurality of merchants, said category based on the goods or services sold by the merchant, and wherein the client interface interacts with the client to select a merchant includes displaying the categories to the client, receiving a response from the client indicating a selected category, displaying the merchant information for the merchants associated with the selected category, and receiving another response indicating the selected merchant. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the client interface interacts with the client to display a preview of the card to the client before the card creator prints the card. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10  wherein an account identifier is included on the card and wherein the material printed on the card includes an account identifier. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the client interface further interacts with the client to collect an image provided by the client and wherein the material printed on the card includes said image. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the amount includes one or more of the following: a particular product sold by the merchant, a particular service sold by the merchant, a denomination redeemable for products or services sold by the merchant, a zero balance subsequently loadable with an amount, and zero balance unloadable with an additional amount. 
     
     
         20 . A method for a creating card having an account between a cardholder and a merchant, said method comprising:
 receiving merchant data from a client via a client interface, said merchant data identifying the merchants selected by said client from a plurality of participating merchants;   receiving value data from the client via the client interface, said value data indicating an amount to be added to the account represented by the card, said amount redeemable by the cardholder with the selected merchant as a function of the client funding said amount;   receiving design data from the client via the client interface, said design data defining the appearance of the card;   providing access to account parameters for authorizing a transaction for the account based on said account parameters, said account parameters including the merchant data and value data; and   creating the card according to the design data, in response to receiving design data from the client via the client interface.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 receiving a request to activate a particular account;   verifying that the amount indicated by the value data has been funded by the client for the particular account; and   generating an activation status as a function of the funding verification, said generated activation status included in the account parameters.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20  wherein access to the account parameters is provided responsive to a transaction request received by a issuer processor for authorizing a transaction using the card, said transaction initiated by a cardholder with a requesting merchant. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  wherein the transaction request identifies the requesting merchant, the account represented by the card, and an amount requested for redeeming. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  wherein the issuer processor compares the requesting merchant to the selected merchant associated with the particular account and compares the amount requested for redeeming to the redeemable amount associated with the particular account and wherein the issuer processor grants the request as a function of the requesting merchant matching the selected merchant and the amount requested for redeeming being less than or equal to the redeemable amount. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the account parameters include a promotional code associated with the account to identify said account and wherein the promotional code is included on the card. 
     
     
         26 . A method for a creating card having an account between a cardholder and a merchant, said method comprising:
 receiving merchant data from a client via a client interface, said merchant data identifying the merchants selected by said client from a plurality of participating merchants;   receiving value data from the client via the client interface, said value data indicating an amount to be added to the account represented by the card, said amount redeemable by the cardholder with the selected merchant as a function of a status associated with the client;   receiving design data from the client via the client interface, said design data defining the appearance of the card;   providing access to account parameters for authorizing a transaction for the account based on said account parameters, said account parameters including the merchant data and value data; and   printing the card according to the design data, in response to receiving design data from the client via the client interface.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  wherein the status associated with the client indicates one or more of the following: amount of card is redeemable as a function of immediate funding by the client, amount of card is redeenable as a function of subsequent funding by the client, amount of card is immediately redeemable, amount of card is redeemable after a certain time period, and amount of card is redeenable for a limited amount. 
     
     
         28 . A system comprising:
 a card creator for creating a card in response to client input, said card usable only at merchants and/or preset merchant groups selected by the client, said card creator assigning a unique account number to the card;   a merchant management system for creating a filter corresponding to the card;   a processing system using the filter for authorizing use of the card at a merchant when the merchant is a selected merchant and is identified by the filter as a selected merchant, said processing system using the filter for denying use of the card at a merchant when the merchant is a not selected merchant and is not identified by the filter as a selected merchant